Apple Cancels Electric Vehicle Plans, Shifts Focus to AI Projects

On Tuesday, Apple announced during an internal team meeting that it is withdrawing its plans to develop an electric car, ending a secretive project that has cost immense resources over the past decade.

Apple executives reportedly informed teams working on the tech giant's vehicle, Project Titan, that hundreds of workers would be transferred to divisions working on artificial intelligence.

Apple Cancels Electric Car Project

The Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, commented on the company's plans for a car in recent years, though he never fully committed to creating a product.

Although Apple did not officially announce its plans to offer a car, the project was a source of intense speculation among the automotive and tech industries. The company employed executives from luxury automakers like Tesla and Lamborghini to oversee its development and acquired autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai in 2019.

Since investing resources in the concept in 2014, the company's plans for an electric vehicle have changed several times. However, attempts to produce a product for the market have faced several obstacles since then.

In a 2016 reorganization, Apple laid off dozens of staff related to the project, and the key executive in charge of the project defected to Ford in 2021.

According to Bloomberg, Apple had pushed back the car's launching date to at least 2028. Apple has also dialed back its ambitions for the car, moving from a fully autonomous vehicle to one with some self-driving capabilities similar to Tesla's automobiles.

Furthermore, in contrast, the company had considered creating an entirely self-driving car with no steering wheel and a limousine-style interior with wrap-around seats only a few years ago.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, responded to Apple's decision to discontinue its electric vehicle by posting emojis of a cigarette and a salute on X, formerly Twitter.

Apple plans to allocate more resources towards generative AI initiatives, including reassigning researchers and engineers previously involved in the car project to its special projects group.

During a quarterly earnings call earlier this month, Cook claimed that Apple was spending "a tremendous amount of time and effort" on artificial intelligence and that the company would provide generative AI features to consumers by the end of the year.

Apple To Bring 120Hz ProMotion Display To iPhone 17, 17 Plus

According to The Elec, Apple will reserve its best display characteristics for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Plus, two phones likely to be announced in 2025 with the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. If this is accurate, buyers of new iPhones in about 18 months would not have to choose the priciest models to benefit from cool features like a high-quality scrolling experience and a display that shows information even when switched off.

Apple has not officially confirmed any of this, and it is highly unlikely that it will until the new phones are unveiled in September 2025. However, the report claims that Apple has started lining up key display suppliers ahead of time.

The LPTO technology is crucial in this case because it is the display technology that enables ProMotion and allows for a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The report states that Apple is likely to apply low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO), thin film transistor (TFT), and organic light diodes (OLED) to all four iPhone 17 series that will be released next year.